ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries May 1989 / 397 ies and scanner-generated, machine-readable files in lieu of sending hard copy or photocopies by m ail. The three phases of testing over the 21/2-year life of the project will involve the four State University C enters a t Buffalo, A lbany, B ingham ton, and Stony Brook; the Buffalo Health Sciences and Sci­ ence and Engineering Libraries; and Buffalo’s total library system linked to 30 Western New York cor­ porations, law offices and business and financial organizations th at have agreed to cooperate. The third phase is designed to show w hether funds derived from a fee-based service to Western New York clients could generate enough funds to subsidize the service for Buffalo faculty and stu­ dents. The adm inistrative base of the project will be an electronic bulletin board th a t will be set up on the SUNY-Buffalo m ainfram e computer. ■ ■ G uidelines fo r th e security o f rare b ook , m an u scrip t, a n d oth er sp ecial collection s: A d raft Prepared by the RBMS Security Committee Gary L . Menges, Chair A hearing w ill be held on these guidelines in Dallas on Saturday, June 24. T he final version of “ G uidelines R egarding Thefts in Libraries” was approved at the ALA Mid­ w inter Meeting in 1988 and appeared in the March 1988 issue of C& RL News. The ACRL Rare Books and Manuscripts Section Security Committee, fol­ lowing the completion of the Theft Guidelines, un­ dertook the revision of “Guidelines for the Security of Rare Book, Manuscript, and O ther Special Col­ lectio n s,” published in C & R L News in M arch 1982. The revised text of the Security Guidelines, as approved by the RBMS Executive and Standards Committee, appears below. The revised guidelines include references to the Theft Guidelines and to the RBMS “Guidelines for the Transfer of Rare Materials from the General Collections to Special Collections,” both approved since the 1982 Security Guidelines were issued. A new section on transfers from the general collec­ tions (Section VIII) has been added. A num ber of other additions or changes have been m ade to the text to clarify or make more specific the guidelines. For example, in Section IV the sentences beginning “ F ire an d em ergency e x i t s ...,” “ A re c ep tio n a r e a ...,” “A coatroom ...,” and “Combinations to v au lts...” have been added. There are also a num ­ ber of editorial changes. For example, “Security of­ ficer” and “Security Task Force” used in the 1982 guidelines have been changed to “L ibrary Security Officer” and “Security Planning G roup” to make the terminology consistent w ith th a t used in the Theft Guidelines. The only changes in the Marking Guidelines (Appendix 1) are in the introduction. Previously the guidelines were “addressed only to those libraries w ho elect to use m arking.” The 398 / C& RL News RBMS Security Com m ittee now feels th a t m arking is essential and “recom m ends th a t libraries use m arking as p a rt of their overall security arrange­ m e n ts ....” Following ACRL/ALA rules, a public hearing on the revised Security guidelines will be held by the RBMS Security Com m ittee at the ALA Annual Conference in Dallas. Members wishing to m ake comments and suggest revisions should plan to a t­ ten d , or you may w rite beforehand to the chair of th e RBMS Security Com m ittee: G ary L. Menges, H ead, Special Collections and Preservation Divi­ sion, Suzzallo L ib r a r y , F M -25, U n iv ersity of W ashington, Seattle, WA 98195. I. Introduction One of th e m ajor problems in the adm inistration of rare book, m anuscript, and other special collec­ tions is the security of those collections. Thefts have greatly increased because of public awareness of the value of m aterials. Rare book, m anuscript, and other special collection adm inistrators have th e re­ sponsibility of securing their collections from theft. Security arrangem ents will vary from institution to institution, depending on staffing, physical setting, and use of the collections. Thefts have also presented a problem for rare book and m anuscript dealers, w ho m ay unknow ­ ingly sell stolen m aterials if thefts go unreported. The A ntiquarian Booksellers Association of A m er­ ica has established policies w hich place the respon­ sibility for reporting thefts w ith the libraries which suffer them , and libraries should pay particu lar a t­ tention to their legal and procedural responsibili­ ties in their attem p t to recover stolen library m ate­ rials. These guidelines are w ritten to identify the gen­ eral topics to be considered in an adequate security program . II. The Library Security Officer The RBMS Guidelines Regarding Thefts in L i­ braries lists as its first priority in preventing thefts th a t a senior staff m em ber should be appointed L i­ b rary Security Officer, w ith the responsibility and authority to carry out the security program , and a knowledge of all library security needs, p articu ­ larly those of Special Collections. The identity of th e L ib r a r y S ecu rity O ffice r sh o u ld be m a d e widely known, especially am ong those persons re­ sponsible for handling incoming telephone calls and letters. The L ib rary Security Officer’s first p ri­ ority should be to plan a program , starting w ith a survey of the collections and reviews of the physical layout and staff. (S)he should also seek the advice and assistance of appropriate personnel, such as in­ stitutional adm inistrators, corporate counsel, life safety officers, and of outside consultants from law enforcem ent agencies and insurance companies. T he L ibrary Security Officer m ay recom m end th a t a Security Planning G roup be nam ed to bring problem areas to th e Officer’s attention and to rec­ om m end solutions. A security consultant m ay be b ro u g h t in to assist in d e term in in g th e m ajo r threats to the collection. III. The security policy A policy on the security of the collections should be w ritten by the L ibrary Security Officer, in con­ sultation w ith the adm inistration, staff, legal a u ­ thorities, and other knowledgeable persons. The policy should include a standard operating proce­ dure on dealing w ith a theft: determ ining the cir­ cumstances of the theft, reporting th e theft to the proper authorities w ithin an organization, and to the local and (where appropriate) national legal authorities. See the RBMS Guidelines Regarding Thefts in Libraries for steps to take in establishing adequate policies. The Security Policy should be kept up-to-date w ith current names and telephone num bers of institutional and law enforcem ent con­ tacts. IV . The special collections building or area T he special collections building or area should have as few access points as possible, w ith the same entry and exit for both patrons and staff. Fire and emergency exits should be strictly controlled and alarm ed, and not used for regular access. The p u b ­ lic should have access only to th e public areas, not w ork areas o r stack space. A re a d in g room or search room should be identified as the only area in w hich m aterials m ay be used, w here the readers can be carefu lly w a tch e d a t all tim es by staff train ed for this purpose. A reception area should be set up to receive readers. A security guard or staff m em ber should check readers’ research m aterials before they go into the secure area, and w hen they leave the area. A coatroom and lockers should be provided for readers’ personal belongings. Keys and their equivalents (e. g ., keycards) are especially vulnerable items; the keys to secure areas should be issued on an as-needed basis to staff, w ith m aster keys secured against easy access. There should be a controlled check-out system for all keys. C om bina­ tions to vaults should also have lim ited distribution and should be changed each tim e there is a staff ch an g e involving a position w ith access to th e vault. V. The staff An atm osphere of tru st and concern for the col­ lections is probably the best insurance against theft by the staff, although close and equitable supervi­ sion is essential. The staff should be chosen care­ fully. B ackground checks an d bonding of staff m embers m ay be considered through regular insti­ tutional channels. C areful personnel m anagem ent is an ongoing necessity; a w eak point in any secu­ rity system is disgruntled staff who m ay seek re­ venge th ro u g h th e th eft, destruction, or w illful May 1989 / 399 mishandling of collections. The same security pro­ cedures should be applied to staff as to readers, in­ cluding keeping records of use of materials by staff, checking their belongings when entering and leav­ ing the secure area, and keeping unnecessary per­ sonal items out of the secure work areas. The Li­ brary Security Officer should make training the staff in security measures a high priority. Staff should know their legal and procedural responsi­ bilities for security and know their own and the readers’ legal rights in handling possible problems. All staff should be made aware of and follow estab­ lished procedures. VI. The readers The special collections administrator must care­ fully balance the responsibility of making materials available to researchers with the responsibility for ensuring the security of the materials. Readers should be required to present valid photographic identification and a reasonable explanation of their need to use the materials. This check is especially important in the use of archival and manuscript collections. Each reader should have an orienta­ tion to the collections requested and to the rules governing the use of the collections. Readers should not be allowed to take extraneous personal materi­ als (for example, notebooks, briefcases, heavy coats, books, or voluminous papers) into the read­ ing room. Lockers or some kind of secure area should be provided for personal items. The readers should be watched at all times, and not allowed to hide their work behind bookcases, booktrucks, piles of books, or any other obstacles. Readers should be limited to only those books, manuscripts, or other items which are needed at one time to per­ form the research at hand. Each item should be checked before being given to the reader, and when returned; staff should check condition, con­ tent, and completeness. Readers should be re­ quired to return all library materials before leaving the reading room area, even if they plan to return later in the day to continue their research. Readers should not be allowed to trade materials, nor to have access to m a terials a n o th e r re a d er has checked out. The special collections staff must be able to identify who has used which material by keeping adequate check-out records. These records should be kept indefinitely. VII. The collections Administrators of special collections must be able to identify positively the materials in their col­ lections to be able legally to claim recovered stolen property. There are several means to this end. For example, adequate accession records should be kept, and cataloging and listings in finding aids should be as detailed as possible, including copy- specific information which will provide positive identification. Other means are records and lists kept to fulfill the requirements of insurance poli­ cies. Unprocessed materials should not be made available to researchers without the imposition of appropriate controls. There are several ways of m aking the m aterials themselves identifiable: marking with indelible ink following the RBMS Guidelines fo r Marking (see Appendix 1 below), other forms of marking, and keeping photo- or mi­ croform copies of valuable materials. Condition re­ ports have also proved useful. Marking is essential. Photo- or microform copying must of necessity in most collections be a selective process, with careful thought given to which materials are to be so pro­ tected. The more valuable items should also be seg­ regated from the collections into higher security ar­ eas and used by readers appropriately under more restricted conditions. VIII. Transfers from the general collections Almost all libraries’ open stacks contain rare ma­ terials, acquired years before, which remain uni­ dentified and unprotected. Recently reported cases of library thefts show that many thieves search open stacks rather than try to infiltrate special col­ lections stacks or to outw it m onitored reading rooms’ procedures. Libraries should use the RBMS Guidelines fo r the Transfer of Rare Materials from the General Collections to Special Collections to help identify rare materials on the open shelves in need of protection. IX. Legal and procedural responsibilities The administrators of special collections and the Library Security Officer must know the laws for dealing with library theft applicable in their state and must convey this information to staff. Staff members must know their legal rights in stopping thefts, while not infringing on the rights of the sus­ pected thief. The Library Security Officer must re­ port any thefts to the law enforcement agencies with jurisdiction in the area, and must take respon­ sibility for requesting action from legal authorities. Libraries must assert ownership through the timely reporting of stolen materials. Appropriate agencies to which to report include the FBI, the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America, and Bookline Alert, Missing Books and M anu­ scripts (BAMBAM), a national program for theft control. An additional possibility is an advertise­ ment in the Stolen Books column of AB Bookman’s Weekly. Listings in BAMBAM (which may be done anonymously) and in AB Bookman’s Weekly will help to prevent unknowing transfer of stolen mate­ rials and to facilitate their return. See the RBMS Guidelines Regarding Thefts in Libraries for re­ porting details. X. Conclusion Security is a major concern of the entire special collections community and must be addressed in each individual repository. These Guidelines are 400 / C&RL News necessarily brief. Further information is available through the professional literature, professional or­ ganizations, and consultants both within the rare book, manuscript, and special collections commu­ nity and in law enforcement and insurance profes­ sions. Security is perhaps the most important and most difficult area of special collections adminis­ tration. Still, the efforts of the entire staff with the final responsibility vested in one senior staff mem­ ber, consultation and cooperation with local and other law enforcement agencies, and reporting losses to proper authorities will result in deterring thieves and in recovering stolen materials. Appendix 1 G uidelines for M arking R are Books, M anuscripts, and O ther Special C ollections I. Introduction There has been much thoughtful discussion in recent years regarding the appropriateness of per­ manently marking rare books, manuscripts, and other special collections. Recent cases of theft have shown that the clear identification of library mate­ rial is vital if the material, once recovered, is to be returned to its rightful owner. Marking is essential. The guidelines which follow are intended to aid li­ braries and other institutions in marking their m a­ terials and are intended primarily to provide as consistent and uniform a practice as possible, given the variety and special nature of the materials con­ cerned. The RBMS Security Committee recom­ mends th at libraries and other institutions use marking as part of their overall security arrange­ ments; and that they attem pt to strike a balance be­ tween the implications of two major consider­ ations: deterrence (visibility, permanence) and integrity of the document (both physical and aes­ thetic) . II. General recommendations General recommendations are: 1. That a form of permanent ink be used for marking. 2. That secret marking as a prim ary identifica­ tion device be avoided. 3. That the ownership mark be placed where it can easily be located (but not in a place that is too prominent or disfiguring). 4. That it be placed away from text or image. For the sake of uniformity and other advantages, marking in ink has been preferred to embossing or perforating. Visible marking is meant to reduce or obviate the need for secret marking, which lacks an im m ediate deterrence value. Placem ent of the ownership mark will always be a matter of careful and trained judgment, varying according to each document. For the purposes of these guidelines, the place selected should be as close to the lower por­ tion as possible, on the verso, at a site th at is blank on both sides of the leaf and removed sufficiently from the text or image on the side of the leaf on which it is placed to avoid disfigurement or confu­ sion. Where circumstances or peculiarities of the item do not allow the above to be readily followed, marking may be deferred until further consensus is reached. III. Specific recommendations Marks should be located as follows: 1. Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts. On the verso of the first leaf of principal text, on the inner margin, approximate to the last line of text. Additional markings may be needed when the item is a composite manuscript or otherwise has a sub­ stantial text that may be broken away without no­ ticeable injury to the volume. The location of each subsequent marking would be the same, i.e ., lower inner margin approximate to the last line of the text. When the manuscript is too tightly bound to mark in the inner margin, alternate locations may be made in any blank area of the verso, as close to the lower portion of the text as possible. The mark should be so placed that it may not be excised w ith­ out extreme cropping. (In manuscripts of double columns the mark might be located in the blank area between the two columns.) 2. Incunabula and Earltj Printed Books. On the verso of the first leaf of principal text on the lower inner margin, approximate to the last line of text. Follow the same instructions as given under Medi­ eval and Renaissance Manuscripts above, with the same precautions and alternatives. 3. Leaf Books, Single Leaves from Manuscripts, etc. On either verso or recto, at the lower portion of the text or image of each leaf. The choice may be determined to the document itself if one of the sides has more importance (owing to an illustration, manuscript annotation, etc.) The ownership mark should then be placed on the reverse side. 4. Broadsides, Prints, Maps, Single Leaf Letters and Documents. On the verso, in the lower margin of the area occupied by text or image or the oppo­ site side. Care should be taken here to insure that the specific area is blank on the side opposite to that which is to carry the mark. If the back side is en­ tirely blank, the ownership mark may be placed freely in areas other than the lower margin. 5. M ultiple L ea f M anuscript Letters, D ocu­ ments, Newspapers, Ephemera. On the verso of the first leaf in the lower margin. It may be appro­ priate to place an additional mark later in the work if a portion (such as a famous signature, paper seal, first appearance of a poem, etc.) would have inde­ pendent value if detached or excised. 6. Modern Printed Books, Pamphlets, Serial Is­ sues. On the verso of the first leaf of the opening text, directly below the bottom line. The place­ m ent here is designed to spare the title-page, half- title, dedication page, etc., which in many valu­ able productions have a separate aesthetic appeal May 1989 / 401 not to be disfigured even on the verso. As in the case of multiple-leaf materials (see above, no. 5) addi­ tional markings may be indicated for those internal items (illustration, maps, etc.) that may have sepa­ rate marketable value. IV. Kind of ink and equipment The ink used should be permanent (i.e., suffi­ ciently difficult to remove to act in most cases as a deterrent), inert in itself and in conservation treat­ ment, and able to be applied in minute quantity. The ink and equipment (rubber stamp and balsa wood pad) described in the Library of Congress’s Preservation Leaflet no. 4, Marking Manuscripts, may serve as an example. V. Form and size of mark The size should be kept to a minimum (ca. 5- point type size for lettering). The form should be made up of initials identifying the institution as succinctly as possible, based on the National Union Catalog symbols, and suitable for arranging in lists to circulate to dealers, auction houses, collector, etc. VI. Cancellation of mark Do not attem pt to obliterate marks of ownership made according to these guidelines, even in the event that the material is to be deaccessioned. No system has yet been devised for canceling marks which cannot be imitated with relative ease by thieves, and there seems no alternative but to as­ sume permanent responsibility for the fact of one’s mark of ownership in a book, manuscript, or other document. Permanent records should be kept of deaccessioned material containing marks of own­ ership made according to these guidelines, and the material itself when released should be accompa­ nied by a signed letter of authorization on institu­ tional stationery. Appendix 2 Addresses AB Bookman’s Weekly, Missing Books Section, P.O. Box AB, Clifton, NJ 07015. Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10021. Daniel and Katharine Leab, BAMBAM, P.O. Box 1236, Washington, CT 06793; (212) 737-2715. The Security Committee, Rare Books and Man­ uscripts Section, ACRL/American Library Associ­ ation, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. Society of American Archivists, 330 S. Wells St., Suite 810, Chicago, IL 60606. ■ ■